After wrapping up her duties for the fall, Vice Principal Heidi Murphy will be taking a leave of absence from UC High to pursue her choice career as an elementary school principal.

Murphy wants to take the next step in her career — to become a principal. “Elementary school excites me,” stated Murphy.

Murphy has always wanted to become a principal in the elementary school system. She started her career as an elementary school teacher. She has a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and majored in Child Psychology. Murphy believes that these and her knowledge of K-12 teaching will greatly aid her when she becomes an elementary school principal.

“I like change… I don’t stay at a school for more than six or seven years,” said Murphy. Murphy has worked at about five schools and in four school districts.

“This year I was responsible for building the master schedule for the whole school…,” said Murphy. According to Murphy, if she would have left during summer, someone else would have had to take over putting together the schedule, and it would have been harder to make than it already is.

Murphy is grateful to the school district for letting her stay to finish up her duties and giving the school a month to find a replacement.

According to Junior Sara Escobedo, Murphy was one of the only staff members who really put in an effort to help girls’ sports teams. “With the whole field situation last year, she was always trying to help us find space  to practice on,” stated Escobedo. According to Escobedo, when the Girls Soccer Team was left out of the announcements, Murphy tried very hard to get the team’s stats into the daily announcements.

“Tembo has a little group that hangs out with us at lunch….  I’m sure they will miss him too, but teenagers are funny,” said Murphy. Tembo was originally purchased for a therapy dog program starting up at UC, according to Murphy. But the grant for Tembo lost funding, so Murphy covered the cost herself, allowing Tembo to become a part of the UC High family, and Murphy’s family as well.

“[Murphy] is a real people person. If you ever need something done, she helps get it done as quickly as she can,” said Art Teacher Judith Woodruff. “Even Tembo the dog is a good role model for humans,” stated Woodruff.

One other reason, Murphy explained, that it is the right time to leave is because these days she primarily deals with discipline. “It’s hard when you see the same thing every day, including all the bad attitudes,” said Murphy.

In addition, Murphy explained that her husband is in the hotel industry, and has started his own business. Starting a new business is a big job, and she has been spending a lot of time helping him.